World's next tallest man alive could be this teenager in Michigan

The 19-year-old's shoe size is bigger than those of Shaquille O'Neal.

Broc Brown (middle), 19, grows 6 inches every year and is on track to be the tallest man alive. He is currently 7 feet and 8 inches tall.

Broc Brown (middle), 19, grows 6 inches every year and is on track to be the tallest man alive. He is currently 7 feet and 8 inches tall.

Photo: Courtesy

Photo: Courtesy

Image
1of/8

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 8

Broc Brown (middle), 19, grows 6 inches every year and is on track to be the tallest man alive. He is currently 7 feet and 8 inches tall.

Broc Brown (middle), 19, grows 6 inches every year and is on track to be the tallest man alive. He is currently 7 feet and 8 inches tall.

Photo: Courtesy

World's next tallest man alive could be this teenager in Michigan

1 / 8

Back to Gallery

A 19-year-old in Michigan is on his way to becoming the tallest man in the world, if he surpasses the current record: 8 feet and 2 inches.

Broc Brown, 19, told Barcroft he has grown about 6 inches every year. Right now, Brown, who was diagnosed with Sotos Syndrome when he was 5, is 7 feet and 8 inches tall. Had he not surpassed the age limit, Brown would have been dubbed the world’s tallest teenager, but he became too old for the prize which only allowed those 18-years-old and under.

Sotos Syndrome is a genetic disorder known as cerebral gigantism and effects one in every 15,000 people.

Darci Brown, Broc Brown’s mother, said her son was 5 feet and 2 inches tall when he was in kindergarten, 6 feet tall when he reached middle school, and was 7 feet tall in high school.

“There’s nothing that can stop him from growing,” Darci Brown told Barcroft, adding that doctors told her her son would not live past his teenage years. "I don’t know if he will ever stop."

Due to his size, Broc Brown suffers from a curvature in his spine, which is also narrowing and a strain on his heart. He was also born with one kidney barring him from taking pain killers, despite his severe back pain. Additionally, he has ADHD and intermittent explosive disorder, which involves sudden episodes of violent outbursts.

Broc Brown met with a Sotos Syndrome specialist in Arkansas to see if he could alleviate some of his pain. Dr. G. Bradley Schaefer told Broc Brown he wouldn’t be able to help with his pain, but that the 19-year-old would have a normal lifespan.

“It’s the best thing I could have heard,” Broc Brown said. “I’m so happy I will live for a long time.”

Schaefer said Broc Brown was “easily the tallest man (he) had ever seen.”

In addition to health problems, Broc Brown and his family also face financial problems. He outgrows clothes and shoes at a rapid speed. He grew out of a size 26 shoe, the same size Shaq wears. He now wears a size 28 shoe and needs his clothes made for him because what they sell in stores rarely fits, the family told Barcroft.

The family told Barcroft one pair of socks for the 19-year-old costs $18.

Broc Brown sleeps in an 8-foot-long bed and a custom chair that cost the family $1,000. The family’s community raised $10,000 for him to buy clothes and shoes, which afforded Broc Brown multiple outfits and shoes that he soon grew out of the following year.

Despite his obstacles, Broc Brown hopes to get a job and live a normal life.

“I hopefully want to work for a sporting goods store, so something like that, a cashier or something,” he said. “I just want to have my own job.”

Darci Brown said she never wants to push her son to something he doesn’t want to do.

“I just hope he has a good life and is happy with everything he ever does,” she said.

Broc Brown is in good company— Sultan Kösen currently holds the Guinness World Record for tallest man alive clocking in at 8 feet and 2 inches tall. Kösen is from Ankara, Turkey and has a hard time fitting in clothes and cars, but he said one of the perks of being so tall is his gets to help his mom with household chores like changing a lightbulb or hanging curtains, according to the Guinness World Records website.

The tallest man ever recorded was Robert Waldow, who died in 1940. Waldow, who was from Alton, Illnois, was 8 feet and 11 inches tall.

The tallest male teenager is currently Kevin Bradford, an 18-year-old from Doral, Florida. He is 7 feet and 1 inch tall, according to the Guinness website.